Analyzing the Composition and Distribution of Ophthalmology Content in Third-Party Medical Student Question Banks

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

6-2025

Publication Title

Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science

Abstract

Purpose : US medical schools lack standardized ophthalmology education. The 2022 Association of American Medical Colleges Year Two Questionnaire (Y2Q) reported that approximately 70% of students used third-party online videos and other online content daily or weekly for medical education information. We conducted a comparative content analysis study to analyze how third party question bank ophthalmology content aligned with medical student objectives proposed by the Association of University Professors in Ophthalmology (AUPO) Medical Student Educators Council, which were reviewed and endorsed by the American Academy of Ophthalmology in 2018.

Methods : UWorld and AMBOSS question banks for STEP 1 and STEP 2 CK were accessed from March to April 2, 2024, focusing on the “ophthalmology” subsections. The questions were categorized into 14 groups based on the proposed list of ophthalmology-related objectives from the AUPO Medical Student Educators Council. For each question, the analysis included the following information: the disease being tested, the inclusion of a photograph of the condition, whether it was a medical illustration or a clinical/imaging photograph, and whether knowledge of disease management was necessary to answer the question accurately.

Results : Of 12,777 total questions amongst all four question banks, 226 (1.8%) were tagged as “ophthalmology”. Management was covered in 30.5% of these questions. 68.1% of questions utilized an image or diagram. The most common topics were diseases of retina/vitreous (20.4%), neuro-ophthalmology (18.6%), and diseases of cornea/external disease (15.5%). The least common topics were pediatric ophthalmology/strabismus (1.3%), examination of the eye (0.4%), and anatomy of the eye and visual system (0.0%).

Conclusions : Ophthalmology accounted for < 2% of questions on major medical student question banks. Though several high-yield topics were tested, many key topics on the AUPO medical student objectives remain unaddressed or are underrepresented. The presence of mostly image-containing questions aligns with ophthalmology's visual diagnostic nature. A standardized curriculum for ophthalmologic topics would assist budding physicians, regardless of specialty, in developing their capacity to understand and diagnose common ocular conditions

Volume

66

Issue

8

First Page

5825

Comments

Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology ARVO Annual Meeting, May 4-8, 2025, Salt Lake City, UT

Last Page

5825

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